Santa

Let me introduce you to maybe the most depressing mall in the US, Metro North Mall.  Notice that aside from Santa's "North Pole" area it is empty and black.  A new shopping area opened, Zona Rosa, in 2004 so most of the main stores and attractions left this mall for the new place.  Despite the stores vacating, the mall stayed open and is pretty much only good for mall walking, Topsy popcorn, and what we thought would be a quality Santa experience. 

 Despite the limitations of this mall, we heard good things about Santa being there so we went to check it out.  Turns out E was a bit too young for the free train ride, the wait for Santa was over an hour, and the overall vibe was depressing.  This is not how a Santa experience should feel!  So we left (after Tom bought some popcorn).

 Then we headed over to Zona Rosa just in time for Santa there to be on his 45 minute break.  We made the most of it and eventually we were able to head into the "Celebration Station" to see a giant igloo and Santa.

 You can tell I was super pumped for Santa...Everett, not so much. 

 After all of that, this was the final product: 

Totally worth it.  Poor buddy.